Posterior drawer test

Significance.

This test is meant to detect posterior hypermobility in the glenohumeral joint.

Positioning.

The subject lies supine on the couch with the arm beyond the edge. The examiner stands level with the shoulder. He stabilizes the
scapula with the contralateral hand, the thumb of which is placed on the coracoid process and the fingers on the acromjon. The arm is brought into about 20° of abduction and into slight flexion.The forearm is squeezed between the exammer’s trunk and the ipsilateral arm, the hand of which grasps the humerus in the axilla.

Procedure.

The humeral head is first brought into its neutral position in the glenoid fossa (‘loaded’) and then glided in the posterior direction and
slightly laterally.